Compare / MiniMax M2.1 vs GPT-6 Astra
MiniMax M2.1 vs GPT-6 Astra
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 9 results on 3 sources that measured both models.
MiniMax M2.1 or GPT-6 Astra? The short answer
- MiniMax M2.1 is cheaper: $0.52 against $20.00 per million tokens, 38 times less.
- GPT-6 Astra scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 52.7 against 20.9.
- On our business benchmarks, GPT-6 Astra ranks higher for agents and tool use, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
At a glance
| MiniMax M2.1 | GPT-6 Astra | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $0.30 in · $1.20 out | $10.00 in · $50.00 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $0.52 | $20.00 |
| Cheapest host, blended | $0.52 (Novita, FP8) | $10.00 (OpenAI) |
| Intelligence Index | 20.9 | 52.7 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | 78 |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | 52 |
| Context window | 204,800 tokens | 1,050,000 tokens |
| Weights | Open | Closed |
| Developer based in | China | the US |
Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.
Which is better for what
Each model's rank among models available today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. The better rank is in green.
| Use case | MiniMax M2.1 | GPT-6 Astra |
|---|---|---|
| Product listingsTurning a sparse product feed and photos into listings that can go live | not measured | 1 of 19 |
| Decks from an analysisTurning a finished analysis into a deck you could present as it is | not measured | 1 of 18 |
| Marketing planningPlanning a year of ad spend without overspending | not measured | 1 of 18 |
| Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls | 125 of 161 | 4 of 161 |
| Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects | not measured | 5 of 51 |
| Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge | 86 of 195 | 3 of 195 |
| WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality | 106 of 187 | 17 of 187 |
| Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers | 116 of 153 | 27 of 153 |
| Speed under pressureGood decisions against a real clock (fast chess) | not measured | 14 of 21 |
Every shared result
| Benchmark | Metric | MiniMax M2.1 | GPT-6 Astra |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial Analysisreported | Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score | 20.9 | 52.7 |
| Artificial Analysisreported | GPQA Diamond% of questions | 83.0% | 96.3% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Humanity's Last Exam% of questions | 23.2% | 54.7% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions | 67.7% | 80.7% |
| UGI Leaderboardreported | Requested-length error% off the requested word count | 31.0% | 0.0% |
| UGI Leaderboardreported | Style adherencescore from 0 to 1 | 0.41 | 0.38 |
| UGI Leaderboardreported | Writing scorescore out of 100 | 41.6 | 68.9 |
| Vectara Hallucination Leaderboardreported | Answer rate% of documents | 98.5% | 100.0% |
| Vectara Hallucination Leaderboardreported | Hallucination rate% of summaries | 11.8% | 8.7% |
Bold green marks the better value on that metric. Where a source reports ranges that overlap, the difference may not be meaningful; see the benchmark page for ranges.
Quick answers
Is MiniMax M2.1 better than GPT-6 Astra?
It depends on the task. Among models available today, on our benchmarks and licensed sources, GPT-6 Astra ranks higher for agents and tool use, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M2.1 or GPT-6 Astra?
MiniMax M2.1 costs $0.52 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $20.00 for GPT-6 Astra.
Run MiniMax M2.1 and GPT-6 Astra on your own prompt
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